Scrap unfeasible flights now rather than on the day, airlines told

HOLIDAYMAKERS face more summer flight cancellations after ministers and industry officials ordered airlines to rip up their schedules in an admission that many flights are unlikely to go ahead.

In a joint letter to airline chiefs, the Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority demanded that carriers review their timetables until the end of September to ensure they are “deliverable”.

Flights that are not feasible should be cancelled as early as possible, they wrote, in a further blow to British tourists facing a summer of travel chaos.

Rannia Leontaridi, head of aviation at the DFT, and Richard Moriarty, chief executive of the CAA, wrote: “Your schedules must be based on the resources you and your contractors expect to have available, and should be resilient for the unplanned and inevitable operational challenges that you will face.

“While cancellations at any time are a regrettable inconvenience to passengers, it is our view that cancellations at the earliest possibility to deliver a more robust schedule are better for consumers than late notice, on-the-day cancellations.” The warning was issued after thousands of flights were cancelled in recent weeks at UK airports because of staff shortages. Ms Leontaridi and Mr Moriarty told airlines to “take all possible steps to prepare for and manage passenger demand” to “avoid the unacceptable scenes we have recently witnessed”.

They also wrote that when there are “unavoidable cancellations [and] delays”, passengers must be “promptly, clearly and empathetically communicated with”.

Earlier this week, The Daily Telegraph reported that Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was resisting demands for emergency action to let an influx of foreign workers ease the staffing crisis. Plans had been tabled to issue baggage handlers and check-in staff with temporary visas, but the DFT has said it will not ease immigration rules.

Air travel chiefs have been accused of failing to gear up for a rush of holidays this year. But industry figures say strict rules in the pandemic and a lack of UK state aid made them wary to commit too early to a restrictions-free summer.

Michael O’leary, Ryanair’s chief executive, said this month that it would “have pinch points at the UK airports right through to the end of this summer until the kids go back to school”.